1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to character information processing apparatuses, character information processing methods and storage media, and more particularly to a character information processing apparatus and a character information processing method which enable input of a character code which is registered as an external character in addition to predefined character codes, and to a computer readable storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to enable input of such a character code which is registered as the external character.
Generally, character codes processed by a processing system include a character code which is predefined by the processing system, and a character code which can be arbitrarily allocated by the user. The predefined code relates to the so-called internal character, and the arbitrarily allocated character code relates to the so-called external character.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when the number of characters exceeds a tolerable number of the processing system, an external character file management is made by changing the external character file or appropriately adjusting characters which are registered in the external character file. Alternatively, logic codes are divided into font files which are usable in a plurality of processing systems. When the logic codes are divided into the font files, a logic character set is stored in the data by adding font information or the like to the data.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining one example of a conventional font specifying process. The conventional font specifying process uses a data format shown in FIG. 1 including {font [font name]{text[text data]}}. In other words, a font file for displaying or printing the “text data” is determined by the “font name”.
As a method of setting characters other than the external characters by the conventional font specifying process, there is a proposal to store divided logic codes in different font files.
The data of the character string shown in FIG. 1 include {font Mincho typeface-00-01 {text {}}{font Mincho typeface-00-00 {text is original character of }}. A character code of a character C1 is stored in, that is, defined by, the character  of the Mincho typeface-00-01.
In this specification, the “original character” refers to a character which corresponds to a synonym having the same pronunciation (or Japanese rendering) as another character in Japanese. In other words, the “original character” is a Japanese Kanji character having the same meaning and the same pronunciation as another Japanese Kanji character which has a different character shape or structure. There is no exact counterpart of the “original character” in English, because a character or symbol string in English does not have the same meaning and the same pronunciation as another character or symbol string.
Accordingly, in the conventional font specifying process, it is necessary to employ a data format which is added with the font information when storing the data in a database or the like. In addition, it is necessary to judge the font information when converting the character code into another general code.
However, according to the conventional font specifying process, it is necessary to add the font name when specifying a character which is registered under another font name. For this reason, it is not possible to specify the character in the normal text format. As a result, there is a problem in that the processing of the data is difficult and complex.